The public relations industry is ever-evolving, and a great PR agent knows how to be organized and active so their business stays competitive. If you are new to the field of PR or could simply use a few tips on how to help your team be successful, here are some things you can do today.
Stay organized
This tip may seem obvious, but staying organized is an important part of PR that sometimes falls by the wayside when things ramp up in this fast-paced environment. Spend time at the beginning and the end of each day getting yourself organized. Carving out specific time for organization ensures that it actually happens. Consider investing in a Labor Management System where you can track your progress and the progress of your employees. A digital tracking system like this will let you know if there is a weak link or if some things aren’t being done efficiently so you can combat it head-on and move on with your day.
Keep social media active
Though tedious, it is important to keep your profiles active on all social media channels. Not only is social media a free and easy way to get your messaging seen by your target audience, but it’s also a great way to show that your company is active and doing great things. Think about it — if your favorite company either is not on social media at all or is very inactive, what would your initial thoughts be? Perhaps they are going out of business or not doing well. Keep your customers and potentials from wondering about your company by developing an active social presence.
Blog
Similar to keeping active on social media, it is also important to have an active company blog. However, your blog should not be full of posts about how great your company and products are. Instead, focus on being a “thought leader” and post interesting and informative blogs about your industry as a whole. If you have noticed a certain trend in the industry or simply know something that others may find useful, feel free to blog about it. Ensure that no matter what you write about, you are using appropriate keywords so that your website pops up in organic searches on popular search engines.
Ask for feedback
It can be hard to ask someone to give their opinion on your ideas, especially if you think they are particularly good ones. However, in the PR field especially, it is important to run your ideas by others to ensure that they will resonate with your target audience. Your PR team is there to support you, so allow them to “chime in” when you make suggestions and also offer suggestions of their own. Don’t hesitate to run ideas by people on your sales team as well since they are customer-facing and know more about what resonates with your customer base. If you are willing to foster a collaborative environment with your team, you will have a more varied and robust PR strategy.
Understand analytics
Watching your company’s numbers grow is exciting. Yet, it is important to understand the “why” behind any growth or decline. If visits to a certain page or blog post on your website suddenly increase, you and your team should work to understand why this occurred and what you can do to achieve the same results on other pages. Conversely, if numbers take a sudden dive, you should look into what could have gone wrong. Is a certain page returning a 404 error? Are the colors on the page perhaps giving off a negative vibe? There could be hundreds of reasons, but a good PR person will take the time to figure out what went wrong and learn from it.
Running a PR team can be exciting and challenging. If you find your team struggling, use these simple tips and you’ll see your company’s success grow.
